


Scarecrow Hill

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2016-06-05
Packaged: 2018-07-12 10:11:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7098490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louisa races Alex at Scarecrow Hill.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scarecrow Hill

Louisa met Alex at the gates of Scarecrow Hill. Alex had asked her to wear all white and bring Snowghost, probably so it would be how things should have gone when she’d raced Katja. But the way Alex was looking at her…

“Are you sure this was a good idea?” asked Louisa. “You look sad.”

“Just thinking about how things could’ve been if Katja hadn’t been evil,” said Alex with a shrug. “We could’ve been friends racing up the hill.”

“Or you could’ve stopped at the top and made out,” said Louisa. “Not that I’m thinking of doing that with you or anything. I’m loyal to Lisa.”

“And I’m with Anne,” Alex agreed. “Anyway, let’s do this. Don’t cheat.”

“I won’t if you won’t,” said Louisa, and she knew that they weren’t just talking about cheating in the race.

“Count us down, Joe,” said Alex. “I’m ready to win this thing again.”

“We’ll see about that,” said Louisa. Snowghost nodded her head proudly.

“Okay, go on my signal. Watch out for the sleep bombs!” Scarecrow Joe warned them, and then counted them down.

“Sleep bombs?” Alex asked, but then it was too late as the race had begun.

Louisa raced on ahead, not even fazed anymore by the growling clouds overhead or the cackling of the witches as they gathered.

“It’s a fake apple!” she shouted at the sky like she did every time. 

But just like every other time, the witches either didn’t hear her or didn’t care because they swooped on her all the same as soon as she’d plucked the apple. Sleep bombs crashed on the ground around her, emitting fumes that she tried hard not to inhale. She knew where they’d fall, so she dodged around them with ease. It helped that Snowghost had such nimble little hooves.

Even when she was out of Scarecrow Hill, Louisa knew that she wasn’t home safe yet by any means. If anything, the sleep bombs increased in their intensity. The witches weren’t going to let her get away.

Finally, the bombs stopped falling and Louisa pulled up hard where Joe hid behind the low stone fence.

“Got it,” she said proudly, producing the apple from where she’d tucked it into her backpack. Some of the gold spraypaint had rubbed off onto the blanket that she’d also brought, revealing the apple’s red skin.

“Well done,” said Joe. “Did you get a new personal best?”

“Hmm, nope,” said Louisa after checking the time that Joe had on his stopwatch. “Anyway, this isn’t a daily race, it was a group race.”

“You’re right,” said Joe. “But where’s your other group member?”

“I’ll see if I can find her,” said Louisa. “I brought a blanket just in case, I had a feeling this would happen. Do you want to eat that apple?”

“Yes, unless you want it,” said Joe, already rubbing the paint off with a cloth.

“Nah, you can eat it. See you around,” said Louisa, and turned Snowghost back in the direction of Scarecrow Hill.

“I did hear something fall behind us on the way down the hill,” said her horse. “I didn’t take much notice though, otherwise I would’ve ran into a sleep bomb.”

“You made the right choice,” said Louisa, rubbing her horse’s ears. Snowy nickered happily at the touch.

They rode back into Scarecrow Hill at a canter, ready to pull up at a moment’s notice. The witches were gone now, but she didn’t want to trample her sleeping friend.

“Yes, that’s where I thought they fell,” said Snowghost when they came upon the pair out cold on the hill.

“Do you think I maybe should’ve mentioned the sleep bombs before?” Louisa asked.

“Probably,” said Snowghost. She stayed still while Louisa dismounted, and then picked up a corner of the blanket in her teeth to help Louisa cover the sleeping girl and horse.

Then, there was nothing to do but wait. Louisa could’ve easily given Alex a lift back to the manor, but that would mean leaving Tin Can here alone. So she sat down beside Alex and waited for her to wake up. She was glad that it wasn’t too cold, even if the rumbling clouds were rather ominous.

“I’m surprised she hasn’t done this race more often,” said Louisa.

“Probably brings back bad memories,” Snowghost offered. “Would you want to revisit the place where one of your enemies hurt you?”

“What enemies?” asked Louisa, but she knew what Snowy was talking about. “No. Definitely no.”

“Well then, there’s your answer,” said Snowy.

“I dunno, she looked more sad than angry,” said Louisa. “Or like she regrets the way things went. But she has nothing to regret, Katja’s the bad guy here.”

“Just what-if thinking,” said Snowghost. “Like when for a moment you two thought what if you two-“

“Stop,” said Louisa. “Don’t finish that. It’s already going to be awkward enough if she wakes up and thinks I’m Katja.”

“Will you stop her if she tries to kiss you?” asked Snowy.

“If I can,” said Louisa. “It’ll save her the embarrassment at least.”

“And if… if the real Katja showed up?” asked Snowy. “What would you say to that?”

“I would say to her to go away because she’s going to confuse Alex,” said Louisa. She looked up and saw exactly who she’d expected to see. She turned her look into a glare.

“Hello,” said Katja. “Two of my fangirls, what a pleasant surprise.”

“Go away, Katja,” said Louisa. “As soon as Alex wakes up, we’re going back to the manor.”

“Why are you dressed like me?” asked Katja. “Well, you’re wearing white, anyway.”

“Alex wanted me to,” said Louisa. “Because last time she did this race, it was with you.”

“So much for being over me,” said Katja. She smiled down at Alex. “Maybe I should wake her with a kiss. I can do that, you know.”

“I know,” said Louisa. “But you could just as easily hypnotise her or claim her with a kiss.”

“I don’t need to claim her,” said Katja with a laugh. “Clearly, she’s still at least partly mine. Just like I don’t need to claim you.”

“That was before I had a girlfriend,” said Louisa. “Now that I have one, pretty girls just don’t affect me in the same way anymore.”

“Pretty girls might not, but hot girls?” Katja giggled as Louisa blushed. “You two aren’t my targets right now, though. My master has bigger plans for me.”

“What bigger plans?” asked Snowy. “You’ve been prancing around Jorvik for weeks.”

“He’s working on it!” Katja snapped. “Now, though, I’ll just prance away, as you call it, and leave you to deal with the awkwardness. Later, losers!” And she skipped away, humming some little tune.

Louisa began to worry about Alex after some more time had passed. Sleep bombs usually didn’t last this long. But Alex looked like she was sleeping peacefully, at least.

“Linda did say that Alex has been having trouble sleeping,” said Snowy. “They all have. In fact, the only time Lisa sleeps is when she’s with you.”

“That’s because I exhaust her,” said Louisa. “Or maybe because she’s comfortable with me, I don’t know. Maybe my magic helps them sleep?”

“It’s possible,” said Snowy. “I can sense that you have great power, so maybe that’s part of it.”

Finally, though, Alex began to wake up.

“Katja?” she asked when she finally opened her eyes.

“You missed her,” said Louisa. At least she hadn’t tried to kiss her.

“Damn. Well, I mean, good, probably.” Alex sat up and ran a hand through Tin Can’s mane. “Wake up, sleepyhead.”

“She knows that you’re not over her,” said Louisa.

“Nothing’s going to happen,” said Alex. “She hurt me too much for me to ever even think about taking her back. Besides, I wouldn’t be hurting this much about Anne being missing if I didn’t love her with all my soul.”

“I know,” said Louisa. “She’s trying to get me too I think. I shudder to think what would happen if Dark Core got their hands on me.”

“Well, I’m just glad there wasn’t time for Katja to get you alone before you met Lisa,” said Alex. “I just know that she’d pull the same trick twice. She’d hypnotise you, using your love for her as a power source or an anchor, and then get you to do whatever she commanded.”

“But what I feel for her isn’t love,” said Louisa. “I can tell the difference. Lust doesn’t seem like a strong enough basis for a spell.”

“Tell that to a succubus,” said Alex with a laugh. She yawned, then got to her feet and began stretching to wake herself up.

“Did you just call her a succubus?” asked Louisa with a laugh.

“Yup. Or siren or something. She’s pretty and she knows it but she’ll use it to lure you in and tear you to pieces. Anne’s like that too, but she only uses her beauty to get her way,” Alex continued. Her shirt rode up as she stretched her arms over her head, and Louisa saw angry-looking scars.

“What happened there?” she asked. “And what else are you hiding under your long sleeves?”

“It’s not what it looks like,” said Alex, quickly pulling her shirt back down. “Just um, when Lisa went missing and then Linda, I kinda… I was bad. Really bad.”

“Not self-inflicted?” asked Louisa.

“Not that kind of bad, no,” said Alex. “I just threw myself into looking for them and I was reckless. I took out my anger on everything. Every time I cried, I went outside to beat up something. But never someone, I didn’t wanna get thrown in jail. Well, except for a few goons. Okay, a lot. And not all of them are from fights.” She blushed, and Louisa understood immediately.

“Do you wanna tell me the story behind each of your scars?” asked Louisa.

“No,” said Alex. “Not now. If I start taking clothes off when you look like that, I’ll probably do something really stupid.”

“Right, you can save it for Anne,” said Louisa. “Back to the manor now?”

“You ride on ahead,” said Alex. “I’ll catch up. I promise.”

“Okay,” said Louisa, but she didn’t even leave the gated-off area.

“Text Lisa,” Snowy suggested quietly once Louisa had hidden them inside the old church.

“Already done,” Louisa whispered back. There was silence for a few moments, save the crackling from the flickering lightning that now embellished the clouds, and then there was a loud crack and flash and Louisa felt Alex disappear only to reappear seconds later in the frozen lands beyond Valedale.

She certainly hadn’t seen that coming. It looked like they’d be spending some time in Valedale, then.


End file.
